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DIALOGUE
OUR SITES TO SEE
SCENES FROM EDC More than 400,000 festivalgoers basked in the (literal) glow of
installations, art cars and music at the three-day 2015 Electric Daisy Carnival Las Vegas. Photographer Jesse J Sutherland was on the Las Vegas Motor Speedway grounds, capturing all those moments you might not remember. Check out some of his work on Pages 46-47, then view a full gallery at Vrated.com/EDC2015. MINING FOR ZINES
EDC BY JESSE J SUTHERL AND
The Zine Library started as a micro-archive of Nevada in the 1990s, crammed onto three bookshelves in Emergency Arts. Now, it fills half a room with more than 1,500 entries. DTLV contributor Kayla Dean chatted with the library’s founder about the punk-rock collection/poetry portfolio/art depository. DTLV.com/Zines.
BLAST FROM THE PAST
MEET THE NEW REBEL
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Jump in the passenger seat of a 1955 Bel Air wagon as Vegas Seven beverage guru Xania Woodman and Sailor Jerry’s brand ambassador Paul Monahan cruise across Las Vegas, stopping at three iconic bars on our Bar Hall of Fame list. The journey begins at VegasSeven.com/ SailorJerry.
Ike Nwamu, a transfer from Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, recently joined the Runnin’ Rebels. Hear why the senior guard, who has gained national notoriety for his high-flying dunks, is excited about his new team at RunRebs.com/ NwamuVideo.
Instead of browsing multiple band pages for updates from your favorite local musicians, let Zoneil Maharaj do the work for you in his column, Hear Now. This week’s edition includes the bouncy summer jam from rap tag team Play on Words, indie darling Shayna Rain and more. VegasSeven.com/HearNow.
FACEBOOK: /VegasSeven TWITTER: /7Vegas INSTAGRAM: /VegasSeven
Dispensary Lounge
2451 E. Tropicana Ave., 702-458-6343 SERVING SINCE: 1976 WHERE YOU’RE DRINKING: In a Quentin Tarantino movie. Seriously: The Dispensary is Las Vegas’ bestpreserved fern bar, with its clunky dining-nook furnishings, fake fowers, wood-paneled walls and softly churning water wheel. Occasionally ’70s and ’80s hits food the room to complete the illusion. It’s some kind of wonderful. WHAT YOU’RE DRINKING: Keep it unsophisticated. This isn’t a mixology bar or a place with a huge wine cellar; just order a gin and tonic, like your old man had to drink to get through the malaise of the Jimmy Carter years. And don’t be cute and ask for a weed menu. We’re not quite there. Yet. TRIVIA ROUND: The Dispensary fea-
Huntridge Tavern
1116 E. Charleston Blvd., 702-384-7377 SERVING SINCE: 1962
WHERE YOU’RE DRINKING: This bar adjacent to a drugstore sits at the outskirts of Downtown, the Arts District and the Huntridge neighborhoods, thus drawing the fringe dwellers of all three. The red-vinyl booths, veneer fnishes and vintage beer signs feel like a mellow, old-school dive, but bands, DJs and theme parties occasionally goose the atmosphere. WHAT YOU’RE DRINKING: Whatever you like. The price of a domestic beer on the Strip will buy the fnest of topshelf liquors at the HT. If you owe your friends a round (or two), this is the place to pay your debt. TRIVIA ROUND: Noted chef and curmudgeon Anthony Bourdain visited the Huntridge for a 2014 episode of his show, Parts Unknown. By all reports, he ft right in. –Lissa Townsend Rodgers
Mountain Springs Saloon
3325 Hwy. 160, Mountain Springs, 702-875-4266 SERVING SINCE: 1957 WHERE YOU’RE DRINKING: If the bras and dollar bills hanging over the bar didn’t tip you off, the Mountain Springs Saloon is a popular spot for the motorcycle crew to take a break from the road to enjoy live music, tasty barbecue and, of course, a refreshing beverage. The bar is low-ceilinged and sprawling, with pool tables and a small stage, but there’s plenty of outdoor space for shuffeboard, horseshoes or just hanging out. WHAT YOU’RE DRINKING: Not only is the air a bit cooler up here, but the beer seems colder, too. Order that Manhattan once you’re back in the big city. TRIVIA ROUND: The last Saturday of the month is pig roast day! –LTR
Pioneer Saloon
310 Spring St., Goodsprings, 702-874-9362, PioneerSaloon.info SERVING SINCE: 1913 WHERE YOU’RE DRINKING: Picture a true frontier saloon—the ornate wooden bar, the wall-mounted animal heads, the timeworn wood-slat foor, even the bullet holes in the walls—and take nothing away. The Pioneer is the real deal, right on the desert’s doorstep in Goodsprings near Jean. WHAT YOU’RE DRINKING: Beer is a good choice; whiskey another. Both are cheap and appropriate to the surroundings, and both pair well with the burgers from the bar’s kitchen. Just don’t overdo it or fail to designate a driver: Good luck getting a cab out here. TRIVIA ROUND: Clark Gable spent three miserable days at the Pioneer in January 1942, drinking, chain-smoking and waiting for news of his wife Carole Lombard, who perished when her plane crashed into Mount Potosi. Some say that Lombard’s spirit still haunts the premises, endlessly trying to comfort him. –GC
Stage Door Casino
4000 Audrie St., 702-733-0124 SERVING SINCE: 1976 WHERE YOU’RE DRINKING: The Stage Door has been holding down its corner of the Strip since before The Cromwell—hell, since before the Barbary Coast. For almost four decades, they’ve been pouring beers and shots for a crowd that’s more velvet painting than velvet rope. Sure, the place is small and smoky, and the soundtrack is sports on TV competing with classic-rock radio (the glassed-in booth here is for cashing paychecks, not a DJ). But isn’t that kinda comforting in this bottleservice-and-Versace neighborhood? WHAT YOU’RE DRINKING: $1 for a beer, $2 for a shot and $3 for a hot dog and a beer. That’s something both Teamsters and tourists can appreciate. TRIVIA ROUND: Bring cash. The Stage Door doesn’t want your stinkin’ plastic. –LTR
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PHOTOS BY KRYSTAL RAMIREZ
Casino Royale
3411 Las Vegas Blvd. South, 702-737-3500, CasinoRoyaleHotel.com SERVING SINCE: 1992 WHERE YOU’RE DRINKING: Center Strip, baby! Squeezed in between the Venetian and Harrah’s, the diminutive Casino Royale continues to thrive, thanks to some crafty marketing hooks that include the only craps table in Vegas dealing 100-times odds and a 25 percent daily rebate on slot losses. Tourists mix with informed locals at the long bar next to the table-games pit. WHAT YOU’RE DRINKING: Only the best drinking deal on the Strip (and maybe in all of Vegas). That would be the ice-cold Michelob bottles, which Casino Royale deals 24/7 for only a buck. Heineken is $2.50, and a teeny Coors Light draft is 75 cents. TRIVIA ROUND: Want to wash down those beers with an authentic White
Castle slider (or six)? This is the only bar west of the Mississippi where you can. –Anthony Curtis
tures live jazz on Fridays and Saturdays, curated by UNLV bandleader Uli Geissendoerfer. The band sets up right next to that water wheel. –Geoff Carter
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CLASSIC
Mountain Springs Saloon.
June 25–July 1, 2015
You’re including THAT bar? How can you include THAT bar and say THIS bar doesn’t belong? Exactly how many drinks have you had? Bartender—cut her off! Welcome back to the great Vegas Seven Bar Hall of Fame debate, an annual tradition that pretty much unfolds thusly: Our committee of dedicated drinkers gathers at a local watering hole … the frst round of cocktails arrive … the list begins to take shape (we love this, hate that) … the second round of cocktails arrive … opinions begin to differ, voices get louder … the third round of cocktails arrive … spirited discussions begin to devolve into contentious arguments … the frst round of shots arrive … Yes, if there’s one thing we’ve learned in four years of having this semiliterate, borderline-unconscious bar brawl, it’s that any discussion of the best bars in Las Vegas will produce opinions as varied as Bloody Mary recipes and as strong as Bacardi 151. And it’s clearly not just us. Just look at a few of the 20 bars our readers have voted into immortality and infamy: an Irish pub, a top-foor club, two sophisticated steakhouses, two down-and-dirty dive bars, a lounge in an upscale Strip hotel and a circular bar in a laid-back off-Strip hotel. Now, it’s time to add fve new members to these celebrated ranks. Once again, you’ll be helping us choose from a list of nominees that was determined—after much blood, sweat and beers; see above—by Vegas Seven’s expert panel of social drunks. As usual, all 31 nominees had to meet the following criteria: 1) Each bar must be at least 5 years old (opened in 2010 or earlier). After all, it’s easy to arrive with a big bang, but maintaining a loyal clientele and solid reputation—whatever that reputation might be—over a number of years is the stuff of which Hall of Fame careers are made. 2) Each bar must offer something unique in its atmosphere, quality and/ or service. It must have character—that nearly indescribable something that distinguishes it from the dozens of other watering holes in our city. Now we invite you to read on, then visit VegasSeven.com/BarHall2015 and vote daily for your favorite nominee in each of fve categories: classic, neighborhood, restaurant, cocktail/mixology and sports. After the voting closes at midnight July 9, our panel of boozehounds will reconvene and determine the Hall of Fame Class of 2015, which we’ll unveil in our July 16 issue. At that point we’ll all raise a glass (or two) to the victors— and begin drinking our way toward next year’s list.
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The Griffin.
June 25–July 1, 2015
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VegasSeven.com
Free Zone.
25
Sinatra.
In Encore, 702-770-7000, WynnLasVegas.com SERVING SINCE: 2008
“Sophisticated” isn’t usually how you describe a celebrity-themed restaurant these days, but Sinatra keeps it Chairmanclassy. Both the dining room and bar are airy, elegant spaces with garden views, adorned with touches of orange and a few tasteful portraits of the man himself. Frank, Dean and sometimes Peggy or Billie croon in the background. WHAT YOU’RE DRINKING: Frank took his cocktails seriously, and so does Sinatra. The gorgeous, mirrored bar is abundantly stocked and adroitly deWHERE YOU’RE DRINKING:
ployed: Try a Sinatra Smash or Flame of Love. Or just ask for two fngers of Jack on the rocks, like Ol’ Blue Eyes routinely did. TRIVIA ROUND: That Grammy you see? It’s for “Strangers in the Night.” That Emmy? It’s for Frank Sinatra: A Man and His Music. And the Oscar? From Here to Eternity, baby! –LTR
Top of Binion’s Steakhouse
128 Fremont St, 702-382-1600, TopOfBinionsSteakhouse.com SERVING SINCE: 1988 WHERE YOU’RE DRINKING: Off the beaten path yet in the middle of it all, the Top of Binion’s Steakhouse features an impressive view, from the so-closeyou-could-almost-touch-it Plaza to the
farthest reaches of Red Rock. The 24thfoor space has remained virtually unchanged for decades and is a classic example of wood-paneled, velvetwallpapered, old-school Vegas. Enjoy the unironic retro atmosphere before the freaking hipsters fnally discover it. WHAT YOU’RE DRINKING: You’re in a classic steakhouse overlooking the lights of Las Vegas. Translation: This is not Miller time. Have a proper cocktail, you cretin; ask the bartender to shake you up a Manhattan, martini or Old-Fashioned. TRIVIA ROUND: Top of Binion’s was once the Mint Casino’s Sky Room, until Binion’s bought the casino and folded it into the Horseshoe. We still weep for the loss of that gloriously Googie Mint sign. –LTR
VegasSeven.com
Sinatra
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next to you and posted on the walls). This is one of those spots where celebs escape and local power takes center stage, negotiating over drinks at the classically styled dark wood bar (surrounded, of course, by primates). WHAT YOU’RE DRINKING: Glusman’s extensive cellar fows into a list that includes 31 wines and bubbles by the glass ($12-$25), plus nine pages of bottles (from a $35 La Marca to a $6,800 Rothschild). Otherwise, it’s likely a gin martini, olives, up. Whether you’re wooing a date or a business deal, you come to Piero’s to unleash the power of the wallet. TRIVIA ROUND: According to Glusman, Martin Scorsese paid a $30,000 daily location fee to Piero’s for flming parts of his Vegas opus, Casino. –JPR
Piero’s Monkey Bar.
June 25–July 1, 2015
SINATRA BY BARBARA KRAFT; PIERO’S MONKEY BAR BY JON ESTRADA
Level 107 Lounge.
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46
June 25–July 1, 2015
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VegasSeven.com
NIGHTLIFE
PARTIES
EDC 2015
Las Vegas Speedway
See more photos from this gallery at SPYONvegas.com
June 25–July 1, 2015
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Photography by JESSE J SUTHERLAND
47
NIGHTLIFE
PARTIES
TAO
The Venetian [ UPCOMING ]
52
See more photos from this gallery at SPYONvegas.com
PHOTOS BY AMIT DADL ANEY AND BOBBY JAMEIDAR
June 25–July 1, 2015
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June 25 Worship Thursdays with DJ Five June 26 Justin Credible spins June 27 Eric D-Lux spins
DINING
“Straying from the show’s premise that Flay would try to beat his competition at their own game, Ellis says he was barred from preparing any of his signature drinks” {PAGE 60}
Restaurant reviews, news and the latest coffee company to pour into Las Vegas
Have Dinner for Dessert When the sweets imitate the savory By Al Mancini I’M NOT REALLY A DESSERT GUY—except, I kind of am. You see, for me dessert is a meal in and of itself, not an afterthought tacked on to the end of a dinner. So I’m particularly fond of desserts that pattern themselves after savory dishes. And Las Vegas has plenty of good ones to offer. If you think like I do, here are a few ways to substitute sweets for sustenance. FLATBREADS
Michael and Jenna Morton take their fatbreads seriously at both La Cave Food & Wine Hideaway (in Wynn, 702-770-7375) and Crush (in MGM Grand, 702-891-3222). And their perfect crusts also serve as bases for two amazing desserts. Crush’s Sweet Elvis ($12) features peanut butter, Nutella and banana slices, with a smattering of salty bacon bits to cut through the sugar. The S’mores Flatbread ($12) at La Cave is pure sweetness, thanks to hearty doses of milk chocolate, white chocolate, toasted marshmallows and graham cracker crumbs. For a bit of contrast, I recommend pairing the latter with a selection from the cheese menu. Truffe Tremor is my favorite.
Crush’s Sweet Elvis flatbread dessert.
VegasSeven.com
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I came across two astounding sweet spins on the classic sandwich at Hubert Keller’s Burger Bar. The Cream Cheese Cake Burger ($6.50) is a scrumptious pastry made with cheese cake and caramelized pineapple layered inside a split Krispy Kreme glazed donut. But it’s not nearly as visually appealing as the Nutella Mousse Burger ($6.50), for which passion fruit gelée replicates cheese, slices of fresh kiwi stand in for pickles and strawberries take the place of tomatoes atop the nutty chocolate patty. In the Shoppes at Mandalay Place, 702-6329364, Burger-Bar.com.
June 25–July 1, 2015
PHOTO BY ANTHONY MAIR
BURGERS
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MOVIES
HIPSTERS IN THE ’HOOD
Shameik Moore (right) plays a good kid caught in bad circumstances.
Rick Famuyiwa’s Dope captures teen angst for a new generation By Michael Phillips Tribune Media Services
IT SOUNDS CLUELESS AND BLINKERED TO
compare the vibrant new comedy Dope, set in multicultural Inglewood southwest of L.A., to the extremely white 1983 flm Risky Business. But wait. The flmmaker, writerdirector Rick Famuyiwa, is the frst to refer to his movie as “Risky Business for the social-media generation.” Producer Mimi Valdes, also quoted in the production notes, adds that its focus is “black nerds in the ’hood. Why hasn’t anyone shown that part of the culture before? Here’s an opportunity to show a black kid who is super smart, trying to get into Harvard, acing his SATs, liking tech stuff and hip-hop music and rock bands and grunge. We’ve never seen that character in the movies.” Maybe so. We’re certainly not likely to hear a better movie soundtrack in 2015. Famuyiwa has been around a while and his best work, such as the screenplay for the Don Cheadle vehicle Talk to Me, indicates a voice deserving of wider recognition. A hit at both Sundance and Cannes flm festivals earlier
this year, Dope borrows from all over, guided by its protagonist’s obsession with ’90s music and fashion. Malcolm, played by tall, serene Shameik Moore, is a graduating high school senior who lives with his bus driver mother (Kimberly Elise). His father, Nigerian-born, came in and out of their lives quickly, and Malcolm’s only meaningful memento of the man is a copy of his favorite movie: Superfy, the one about the drug-dealing antihero. This is no casual detail, for the events of Dope send Malcolm and his best friends into a criminal and lucrative orbit not unlike the milieu of Superfy. At a nightclub birthday party thrown by drug dealer Dom (A$AP Rocky), guns are pulled and bodies fall and Dom’s stash of “Molly” gets stashed in Malcolm’s backpack.
Malcolm realizes this when the drugsniffng security dogs at his school start growling. From there Dope becomes a survival comedy, with Malcolm on the run, though there’s a little romance between Malcolm and Dom’s sometime squeeze (Zoe Kravitz, a strong screen presence). Our hero’s best friends are superbly cast. Diggy, out of the closet and ready for anything, is played by Kiersey Clemons. The one they call “Jib” is handled by Tony Revolori, a long way from his turn as Zero, the bellboy, in The Grand Budapest Hotel. Not everything works in Dope. Famuyiwa strains to make the scenes dependent on our understanding of a Bitcoin scam interesting. The scenes featuring the silky, Harvard-educated drug lord Jacoby are muddied by the monotonous, whispering Roger Guenveur Smith.
June 25–July 1, 2015
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SHORT REVIEWS
70
Inside Out (PG) ★★★★✩
A move to San Francisco shakes up Riley (voiced by Kaitlyn Dias). Her emotions scramble to work out an equilibrium. In addition to ringleader Joy (Amy Poehler) and her flip side, Sadness (Phyllis Smith), there’s Anger (Lewis Black); Disgust (Mindy Kaling) and Fear (Bill Hader). Joy and Sadness are plunked down into uncharted territory near Riley’s long-term memory storage. They must find their way back to the control center, amid an array of animation styles and dimensions, and assist Riley in her darkest moments as she settles into her new life.
Jurrasic World (PG-13) ★★★✩✩
Business at the retooled dinosaur theme park off the coast of Costa Rica has hit a plateau. Scientists led by B.D. Wong have responded to requests for a new star attraction. Behold the genetically engineered hybrid Indominus rex. Chris Pratt is the hunky raptor trainer. Bryce Dallas Howard is the uptight operations manager. Vincent D’Onofrio is the InGen security honcho, out to weaponize the park’s dinosaurs for military purposes. I wasn’t expecting the world, but I wouldn’t have minded sharper jokes and grander action scenes.
Spy (R) ★★★✩✩
Melissa McCarthy plays Susan Cooper, a behind-the-scenes CIA analyst who works as the remotely connected intel expert for superspy Bradley Fine (Jude Law). When Fine runs afoul of Bulgarian arms dealers and disappears, presumed dead, Cooper gets her chance to enter the field. Where Spy goes from there is predictable in many ways but fresh in a few others. Paul Feig the director is required by Paul Feig the screenwriter to chase after a wearying amount of plot, sometimes entertainingly, sometimes less so.
Small matters. The flm moves feetly and the technique, full of split-screen images and unpredictable fashbacks, pulses with life. The bright, hot cinematography, consistently expressive, is by Rachel Morrison. Music superstar Pharrell Williams executive-produced; Forest Whitaker narrates and also produced. The tone of Dope is very interesting—funny, but rarely stupid-funny. The flm does not wear its serious observations, about aspirations and realities and hypocrisies of all kinds (not just racial), in a heavy fashion. Life in “The Bottoms,” the neighborhood from which Malcolm wants out, may be dangerous but Famuyiwa presents it as part cautionary tale, part merry, cynical capitalist fable with a goodnatured survivor at the center. Dope (R) ★★★★✩
By Tribune Media Services
Insidious: Chapter 3 (PG-13) ★★★✩✩
Going back in time before the haunting of the Lambert family that made up the first two offerings of the series, this is the story of how psychic Elise Rainier (Lin Shaye) was able to face her own demons to be able to help others. Quinn Brenner (Stefanie Scott) is a teen dealing with a lot of pain and sorrow after the death of her mother. An attempt to speak through the shroud of death turns into an invitation for a demon to haunt the young girl. It’s a fun and chilling creep show that is more concerned with scares than being gross.
Entourage (R) ★★✩✩✩
Aloha (PG-13) ★★✩✩✩
Fans of the HBO series (2004-2011) will find the film passable. It picks up where the show left off. Movie star Vince Chase (Adrian Grenier) and his crew from Queens are eager for more of what Hollywood success has in store. Entourage brings Vince into the auteurist big leagues. Jeremy Piven’s superagent Ari Gold is elevated to studio head and wants Vince to star in a contemporary remake of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Vince agrees, upon the condition that he directs himself. The money’s coming from a Texas billionaire (Billy Bob Thornton).
Despite a blue-chip cast, Aloha can barely tell its story straight. Private military contractor Brian Gilcrest (Bradley Cooper) returns to Hickam Air Force Base in Honolulu. He works for a billionaire (Bill Murray) partnering with the U.S. military to send up his own personal rocket for reasons the film gradually reveals. There’s a triangular romance afoot. Gilcrest’s ex (Rachel McAdams) is now married to a taciturn Air Force pilot (John Krasinski). Emma Stone plays Gilcrest’s tightly wound handler, a fighter pilot who retains the idealism Gilcrest once had.
San Andreas (PG-13) ★★✩✩✩
Poltergeist (PG-13) ★★✩✩✩
Tomorrowland (PG) ★★★✩✩
I’ll See You in My Dreams (PG-13) ★★★✩✩
Dwayne Johnson plays Ray, the L.A. Fire Department rescue honcho who’s on the phone up in his helicopter, talking to his ex, Emma (Carla Gugino), when one of a series of Big Ones unleashes its digital fury. The film concerns Ray and Emma’s attempts to rescue daughter Blake (Alexandra Daddario). Blake’s in soon-to-be-leveled San Francisco with her mother’s sniveling boyfriend (Ioan Gruffudd). San Andreas imagines the insanely destructive possibilities inherent in a 9.6 quake, plus the inevitable tsunami. The effects are quite good.
Built for Disneyland in 1955, Tomorrowland was a gleaming vision of a future. And, whatever its faults, the new Brad Bird movie Tomorrowland is never less than on-message, a buoyant old-school, Disney-certified imagineering of hopefulness. George Clooney is gruff and grizzle, predictably warming up to a young dreamer (Britt Robertson) of cheer and vision. Yet—aside from the film’s goofy last moments, a hilariously odd misstep that appears to rework It’s a Small World as a doomsday cult—there’s nothing cheap or particularly ironic about Tomorrowland.
Director Gil Kenan has made efforts to contemporize the story’s framework. Paterfamilias Eric (Sam Rockwell) has been laid off from his job; his wife (Rosemarie DeWitt) is an unsuccessful writer. Faced with financial pressures, the two have moved their three children to the suburbs. Cherubic 6-year-old Madison (Kennedi Clements), magnetically drawn to a malfunctioning TV set, is quickly abducted by the house’s malevolent spirits. Less an escalating thriller than a guided tour through a county fair-style haunted house, Poltergeist offers some quality jump scares.
Blythe Danner plays Carol, a retired and widowed schoolteacher who lives in L.A. Her pals, portrayed by June Squibb, Rhea Perlman and Mary Kay Place, urge her to get back in the game. Right on cue, the game begins when a sly, cigar-chomping fellow (played by Sam Elliott) asks her out. This is one of those scripts that might have been more interesting a couple of drafts ago, before the detours were closed. Yet, when Danner’s Carol shares scenes with Elliott’s calmly determined suitor, there’s considerable charm.
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Sounds like a sleek automobile.
Sure, it’s designed to improve effciencies in bartender comfort and ergonomics. We basically tried to fgure out how to get bartenders the trickedout cockpit they’ve always dreamt about, and that included things like equipment that’s closer to the bar counter—so they’re working closer to where they’re making drinks and interacting with guests—separated health-code-compliant sections for various ice programs; insulated, refrigerated juice caddies; curved speedwells that ft any size bottle all the way up to Grand Marnier and Patrón. I tried to design a zerostep station, and that’s not been done before to my knowledge without custom fabrication. Thirty-six liters are within a zero-step radius, meaning you don’t have to move your feet to make a vast majority of drinks on a given shift; you can stand in one spot—and that’s really the one thing that I believe bartenders will get right away. Every step you take is a wasted step. Walking doesn’t help produce drinks. Where would you guess the first bar is going in?
Tobin Ellis
June 25–July 1, 2015
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VegasSeven.com
The BarMagic owner on his new cocktail station, his deal with Starbucks and his go-to local bars
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By Xania Woodman What does BarMagic of Las Vegas do?
BarMagic is a full-service beverage consulting agency that specializes in the design-build process, but we do everything. People think that I’m a mixologist who does cocktail menus and bartender drinks; that is 1/60th of what we do, the easiest and the smallest part of what we do. The reason I’ve been hired by Starbucks is because nobody does what we do: proforma analysis, union reclassifcations, investor-level analysis for entire hotel properties, video/TV
styling for liquor companies, interior design, operational design, engine design for bars, and CAD [computer-aided design] equipment schematics—I mean, pretty extensive. In February, you launched the Tobin Ellis Cocktail Station by Perlick, a bartender-designed bar that improves service, speed and efficiency, but I understand you had a very different name in mind.
“Quantum.” I’ve always been shy of using my own name. I thought it represented a quan-
It’s either going to be a hotel in Central America or there is a bar in Colorado that we tried to do a rush order for. It’s being produced right now. And we know that there are already a couple of orders in for Las Vegas bars. Couldn’t help but notice you mentioned Starbucks earlier. What are you working on right now with them, and how did you get the gig?
I’ve been brought into the Global Innovations team. They were searching for someone in the beverage world who had a lot of design-build experience and who had a reputation for innovation and creativity, but who also has solid, proven, practical, operational experience in casual dining chains, fve-diamond hotels and high-volume night clubs, right down to geeky cocktail bars. I went in for a one-day innovation session
with about 15 people and at the end of the day, one of the directors pulled me aside and said, “You’re the clear rock star in the group. What are you doing tomorrow?” And I was like, “Whatever you want me to,” and that’s it, now I’m up in Seattle two days every week. You co-founded the Flair Bartenders Association in 1997. Are the worlds of flair and mixology mutually exclusive?
They are inherently inclusive and codependent. I don’t know how you could possibly stand behind a bar and exclude one or the other, because a bartender is both a chef and an entertainer and if you’re not passionate about your work you have a hole in your game. If you’re fully passionate about your work then you should be passionate about your tools, technique, ingredients, knowledge and your cocktails. You should also be passionate about your ability to create guest rapport, interaction and to basically “DJ” a room. If you don’t know how to change the entire mood of a room when you’re behind a bar, I’d wonder what kind of bartender you are, because bartending is about people not about drinks. The drinks should come second; the drinks should be automatic. I tell bartenders all the time: You need to learn the drinks, so you can forget them. When you come home to Vegas to roost, for which bars do you make a beeline?
You’ll see me at 365 Tokyo for a daiquiri. I’ll be at Herbs & Rye for a pisco sour. And Velveteen Rabbit for whatever’s on their menu. And don’t be surprised to fnd me somewhere in Bellagio or Wynn just rolling around having a Negroni. In addition to cocktails and cats, you have a love for all things Star Wars and an obsession with Chick-Fil-A. What will be your first order when it comes to the Valley?
Same as it always is: spicy chicken sandwich, pickles, done. No fries, no drink—just give me my chicken. What trends are here to stay, and what does Ellis hope will become the next “It” thing in beverage? Find out at VegasSeven.com/TobinEllis.
PHOTO BY ANTHONY MAIR
SEVEN QUESTIONS
tum leap in bar-equipment design, so it seemed like a pretty appropriate name. Something memorable, simple, but [Perlick] decided it was going to be my name.